Calcium and vitamin D in obesity
Nutr Res Rev. 2012 May 16:1-12.
Song Q, Sergeev IN.
Department of Health and Nutritional Sciences, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD 57007, USA.
New and more effective nutritional measures are urgently needed for the prevention of obesity.
The role of Ca and vitamin D in obesity has been recently implicated.
Low Ca intake and low vitamin D status have been linked with an increased risk of obesity in epidemiological studies; however, clinical intervention trials designed to test this association have produced controversial results.
The suggested anti-obesity mechanisms of Ca and vitamin D include the regulation of
- adipocyte death (apoptosis),
- adipogenesis and
- lipid metabolism.
Dietary Ca has been also shown to increase faecal fat excretion.
The potential role of Ca and vitamin D in shifting energy balance towards a more negative state is an area of considerable interest.
Ultimately, a review of recent research findings does not allow the reaching of a definitive conclusion that increasing Ca intake and rising vitamin D status will influence fat mass and body weight or decrease the risk of obesity and overweight.
PMID: 22588363
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Notes:
- Elsewhere we have seen that Calcium and Vitamin D reduces weight in only about 1/3 of the women. Weight loss may be due to differences in genes (human or non-human genes)
- Obesity has been increasing around the world at the same time that vitamin D has been decreasing
- It seems that obesity is NOT increasing in those countries which have high levels of vitamin D
From a list of countries with low levels of obesity Brunei, Sri Lanka, Gambia, Central African Republic, Cambodia, East Timor, Bhutan